Untitled:
It happened so fast, but who is to blame
The sight of your small and tiny frame.
Your face still covered, I can't catch a glance
Your a mask with ribs, and daddy's hands.
You didn't ask for this- a fight for your life,
It's just not fair, it's just not right.
A 2 pound body, lost in a chaos of beeps,
Alarms drown out your frail cries and squeaks.
Entangling your body as a serpent - a snake,
In your arms, nose and mouth- your life at stake.
When fear creeps in suppression soon follows,
No time to cry, a holed heart feels hollow.
Keeping my smile for others when faced,
Yet once in the shadows- heartbreak, embrace.
For you're not a "preemie" as falsely called,
That term sounds so dirty, I'm angry, appalled.
Sitting in silence, while racing in thought,
Feeling disabled, enraged, distraught.
My hands remain shackled by circumstance,
I'm told sit at a distance and watch at a glance.
As you struggle to grow I can't help but feel,
What a burden you bare, this cannot be real.
You're not just a "preemie" a " NICU baby,"
You're my whole world, my daughter, my beautiful lady.
As days creep on you don't fight this alone,
Your daddy and I will fight until you are home.
The calendar sheets they fall to the floor,
My precious Sophia enters our door!
At last my love is where she belongs,
My only wish- may our journey be long.

Mom to 6 year old. Born at 33 1/2 weeks after preeclampsia and abruptio placenta.
Angel boy -Michael- born 2/1/2010 at 31 weeks. Had pre eclampsia and hospital bedrest at 27 weeks. Died due to NEC. Forever loved and missed
Rainbow baby due Feb 2012. Hoping for a looooonnnnnnngggg uneventful pregnancy.

Some days my shoes hurt so bad that I do not think I can take another step.
Yet, I continue to wear them.

I get funny looks wearing these shoes.

They are looks of sympathy.

I can tell in others eyes that they are glad they are my shoes and not theirs.
They never talk about my shoes.
To learn how awful my shoes are might make them uncomfortable.

To truly understand these shoes you must walk in them.

But, once you put them on, you can never take them off.

I now realize that I am not the only one who wears these shoes. There are many pairs in this world.

Some woman are like me and ache daily as they try and walk in them.
Some have learned how to walk in them so they don't hurt quite as much.
Some have worn the shoes so long that days will go by before they think about how much they hurt.

No woman deserves to wear these shoes.
Yet, because of these shoes I am a stronger woman.

I remember you,
struggling to survive,
I saw the fight in your eye
wanting to make your mommy proud.
But no matter how you tried,
you had to comply,
So you closed your eyes
gave me a smile that said
â€œMommy please donâ€™t cry.â€

The pain was too much
it was not meant for you
to go through such.
I miss you still. I always will.
August 15th to September 8th 2008
No matter how short your life
I appreciate.

The Preeclampsia Foundation is offering a new forum section called â€œWriting Heals,â€ where members can share original poems, songs, short stories and quotes dedicated to their unique experiences. The goal of the forum is to provide a space to promote healing through shared expression. On a quarterly basis we will feature a piece in our newsletter along with a brief interview with the author. We hope that this initiative will assist all of us in further understanding the emotional impact of preeclampsia, eclampsia and HELLP syndrome.

Writing has been proven to yield measurable improvements in psychological and physical health. When we write, we must slow down our thought processes and organize our thoughts. This process promotes self-awareness and understanding. As we write about a stressful event or trauma like a preeclamptic pregnancy, it helps us understand the event as well as how and why we feel certain emotions. The act of realization is necessary for us to â€œlet goâ€ and move forward. After writing about our experiences we tend to feel relieved and begin to heal.

Please respond in this section with any creative writing you may have done about your preeclampsia experience, and see it posted quarterly in the "Writing Heals" section of the Expectations newsletter. If you have already submitted a creative writing post to the forum, send us a hyperlink!

Director of Community Relations for the Preeclampsia Foundation
*does not provide any medical advice*
for more information, please visit www.preeclampsia.org